Last year I ordered two green teas from YS, Jade pole (uniform medium green leaves twisted together into little spiral pointed rods) and Bao Hong. The Jade pole is a lovely mild sweet green tea with an extra fruitiness that is very reminiscent of the excellent Yunnan Mao Feng I have gotten from Norbu (and Scott appears to offer some similar teas to the Mao Feng). The Bao Hong was nuttier, small flat leaves looking a little like a rougher cousin of long jing, and with a bit of nuttiness in addition to the sweet green vegetal flavors. All of these have been nice. So far my YS green experience is pretty good, and I've got a couple more from Norbu that I'm working on which are also quite nice.

I checked Norbu's Early Spring Mao Feng and it comes at an utterly low price. Is it really that good for that price?

It's a whole lot better than the price would indicate. I love it.

From a review I wrote a few months back:
This is a favorite green tea. There is a slightly peachy/fruity/camphor note in this tea that is distinct from the nuttier edge of a Dragon Well. Also, this is a particularly mellow tea. It is possible to find bitterness in it, but you really have to try: very hot water or very long steeps or way concentrated. And it has amazing ‘legs’ for a green tea—I just keep going for 8 or 10 infusions.

I brew this one with a wide range of conditions: the leaves are so light and loose that it’s hard to eyeball accurately, but it’s so forgiving that I’m not often motivated to measure it. Anything from 0.5-1 grams of tea per ounce/30mL water, water from 160-180 degrees, steep time 15 seconds (for high concentration/hotter water/early steeps) to more than a minute (lower concentration/cooler water/later steeps). Its a rare green tea that even holds up well with brew-in-advance hold-all-day in the thermos.

170 °F / 76 °C
0 min 30 sec

Last edited by debunix on Dec 4th, '10, 18:54, edited 1 time in total.

nickE wrote:
I included 100g of the Autumn 2010 Bi Lo Chun with my last YS order. It's definitely a nice daily drinker. I've only tried it grandpa style, but it serves this purpose well.

I got some autumn 2010 organic bi luo chun at 10 cents less. The imperial one appeared after I placed my order. The imperial does look interesting, being all sprouted buds. Quite a difference, as the picture shows. The organic bi luo chun I got from YS is 'traditional' bi luo chun, which is also quite nice for a daily tea.